Five must-read websites for Southeast hikers

As the keeper of a North Carolina-based hiking blog I'm always keeping an eye on what the
competition's up to. And I'm happy to report that on any given day
(most, in fact) these sites based in the U.S. Southeast put mine to
shame.

FloridaHikes.com
Sandra Friend's Florida Hikes site is one of the comprehensive state-
focused hiking blogs in the U.S. Though a lot of goodies are behind a
paywall ($27 a year), there's still oodles of free stuff. Pretty
impressive when you consider Florida's conspicuous lack of mountain
vistas.

HikingUpward.com
Based in Virginia, Hiking Upward also extends to West Virginia and
Maryland. The homepage has a half-dozen user-generated trail reviews,
and the rest of the site rates hikes based on, difficulty, streams,
views, solitude and camping. The tag team of Tony Van Vugt and Bryce
Allison have packed individual trail pages with info including GPS
tracks.

The Smoky Mountain Hiking Blog
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most-visited national park
in the U.S., and Jeff Doran's blog is the best way to keep up with
happenings in the park. It's more about news relevant to hikers (trail
and road closures, severe weather, bear issues) but lots of hiking
ideas get sprinkled among the coverage.

This Hiking Life
Guidebook author Danny Bernstein had a great series of posts in the
past year while hiking the entire length of North Carolina's Mountains
To Sea Trail. She also blogs about trails in the Smokies and her
adventures with the Carolina Mountain Club.

Appalachia and Beyond
This is a strong up-and-comer based in the hills north of Knoxville,
Tennessee. Parents Tim and Robin Bird mix travel and gear reviews with
"what we've done lately" stuff that's unique to the southern
Appalachians.